Fractionating apparatus



April 1953 J. A. REDDICK ETAL 3,083,828

FRACTIONATING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 11, 1960 dob/7 A.Redd/ck Ear/ f fie/v/ey 1/0/79/ 1. l/nf/wcz/m Henry /1. flux 20/7 INV ENTOR.

April 2, 1953 J. A. REDDICK ETA]... 3,083,828

FRACTIONATING APPARATUS Filed 001;. 11, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 1/0/76/ Z.L //7f/7/CU/77 3,983,828 FRACTHUNATENG APPARATUS John A. Reddiclk, EarlE. Berkley, Lionel L. Linthicum, and Henry H. Burton, ali of Houston,Tex, assignors to Anderson, Clayton 8; Co, Houston, Tex, a corporationof Delaware Filed 9st. 11, 19643, Ser. No. 61,977 14 Ciaims. (Cl. 2093)The present invention relates to an apparatus for fractionatingmaterials, and more particularly, relates to an apparatus forfractionating fibrous materials, particularly for the purpose ofseparating trash and other components whereby the materials are cleaned.

Trash, short fibers and foreign particles in fibrous materials affectthe usefulness and consequently the monetary value of these materials.For instance, the monetary value of lint cotton is afiected by thepresence of an excess of short fibers, and it is necessary to separatethem from the sample in order to deter-mine the percentage and,therefore, the quality or monetary value of a bale of cotton. And, ofcource, trash and other foreign objects must be removed from seedcotton. Therefore, it is desirable to fractionate, or separate thevarious components of a fibrous mass in order to clean or to procure acertain grade of fibrous product and determine its monetary value. I

The present invention is directed towards an apparatus which causes ahigh velocity air current to be directed against fibrous materials, suchas seed or lint cotton, to be fractionated for the purpose of separatingtrash, and in the case of lint cotton to remove the excess short fibers.The conventional methods and apparatus for cleaning fibrous materialsuse centrifugal force, saw cylinders, and external air jets to act onthe fibrous material to remove the trash. And while these variousmethods do tractionate and clean, they have the disadvantages of beingtoo slow for commercial application, or actually break the fibrousmaterials creating short fibers which are undesirable, or they requirehigh pneumatic power requirements which is uneconomical. The presentinvention is directed to improvements in providing a fractionatingapparatus which creates its own high velocity air currents for impartingmotion to a fibrous material for fractionating and cleaning thatmaterial.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a pneumaticfibrous material fractionator which includes a rotatable rotor in amaterial container which by a combination of suction and pressurecreates high velocity air currents which impart a rotating movement tothe fibrous material in the container and cause separation of thevarious components of a material.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of apneumatic fibrous sample fractionator which creates high velocity aircurrents which travel in a radial direction through the sample causingthe fibrous material to contact a plurality of deflector fingers or barsto impart a change of direction to the material and separate the trash,and other undesired components from the material.

Yet a further object of the present invention is the provision of apneumatic fibrous material fractionator which includes a rotatable rotorin a material container, the rotor having an internal passagewaycommunicating with ,the atmosphere, a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced and generally axially extending fan blades on the rotor and aplurality of rows of axially extending slots in the rotor communicatingwith the passageway whereby as the rotor is rotated the fan bladescreate a flow of air through the passageway and slots and into thecontainer for imparting a rotating action to the fibrous material in thecontainer thereby tractionating the material by a combination ofcentrifugal force, change of velocity and contact with deflector bars.

A still further object of the present invention is the provision of aseries of removable trash trays beneath the trash outlets of a pneumaticfibrous material fractionator which are positioned with the coarsertrash screens adjacent the trash outlets whereby separated trash, shortfibers and other particles of dilferent sizes are separated from thefibrous material being fractionated and are separated and deposited onthe various trays in accordance with their size whereby variouscharacteristics can be determined for the fibrous materials.

Yet a still further object of the present invention is the provision ofa fibrous material tractionator which has but one moving part, therotor, which creates its own air current for rotating and agitating thematerial in the apparatus and is capable of creating a suction toprovide a continuous 'fiow of the material being fractionated throughthe fractionator.

Still a further object of the present invention is the provision of acontinuous flow fibrous material fractionator which creates a highvelocity air current for separating the components of a fibrous sampleand provides a high velocity suction for causing a continuous fiow ofthe fibrous material through the container on a continuous flow basis.

Yet a still further object of the present invention is the provision ofa continuous material flow pneumatic fabricator for fibrous materialshaving a rotatable rotor in a material container, said rotor having aninternal passageway one end of which is connected to the atmosphere andthe other end of which is connected to a material supply, and the rotoris provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced rows ofopenings and blades, the open ings and blades being tapered downwardlyfrom the material end of the passageway to the air inlet end of thepassageway whereby when the rotor is rotated fibrous material iscontinuously being drawn into one end of the rotor while air is beingdrawn into the second end of the rotor and out into the containerwhereby the sample is continuously flowing through the container andbeing fractionated and cleaned.

A still further object of the present invention is the provision of afibrous material fractionator which is efficient, simple inconstruction, and requires a minimum of power.

Other and further objects, features and advantages will be apparent fromthe following description of presently preferred embodiments of theinvention, given for the purpose of disclosure, and taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, wherein like character referencesdesignate like parts throughout the several views and where,

FIGURE 1 is an elevational view, partly in section, illustrating a batchtype fractionating apparatus according to the present invention,

[FIGURE 2 is an elevation-a1 view, taken along the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view, partly in section, illustrating acontinuous flow type apparatus according to the present invention havingan inlet and outlet,

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 4,

FIGURE 6 is a cross-sectional View taken along the line 6-6 ofi FIGURE4, I

FIGURE 7 is an elevational view, in cross-section showin g the device ofFIGURE 4,

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged partial cross-sectional view of the presentinvention illustrating an additional manner of providing a materialinlet to the continuous type apparatus, and

FIGURE 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the .line 9-9 .of FIGURE8.

For purposes of illustration and by way of example only, the. presentinvention is useful in cleaning seed cotton or fractionating lint cottonalthough, of course, the present invention is useful in cleaning orfractionating many and various types of fibrous materials. 7

Referring nowto' the drawings, the reference numeral '10 generallydesignates the apparatus of the present invention for 'fractionatingfibrous materials. lhe apparatus 10 generally includes a materialcontainer 12 in which trash or outlet openings 16 are provided in thewall and deflector fingers 3% are provided on the interior of thecontainer 12. The rotor 14' is rotatably mounted in the container orchamber 12and inlcudes a plurality of axially extending slots 18 whichare in fluid communication with an internal passageway 29 in the rotorwhich is in turn in communication with the atmosphere, and a plurality.of circumferentially spaced and outwardly extending fan blades'22 onthe outer periphery of the rotor 14 for creating a high velocity aircurrent in' the chamber 12 to agitate and rotate the fibrous materialplaced in the container 12.

Referring now to FIGURES 1-3, inclusive, a cotton fractionator and/ orcleaner is shown which is used for a batch cleaning process or fordetermining the presence and amount of trash and short fibers in a givenquantity of lint cotton. The container or material chamber 12 ispreferably cylindrical in shape being closed at the first end 23 andprovided with a removable ,end plate 24- at the 'secondend. Locking lugs26 (FIGURES 1 and 2 may be provided to provide a means of releasablysecuring the end plate 24 to the container 12. It is noted that theremovable end plate 24 includes an opening 28 in communication with therotor internal passageway 20 whereby air may enter inlet 28, thepassageway 2% and proceed into the container 12 through slots-18 when asuction is created 'by the rotary action of the fan blades 22. Aplurality ofi 'rows of deflector fingers or bars 30* may be providedsecured to the interior of the chamber or container 12 so, :that when"the fibrous material is being rotated about the container 12 it willcontact and be defiected by the bars 30 thereby jarringand'disassociating the trash and/or short fibers-and separating themfrom the fibrous mass. Preferably, the deflector fingers or bars 30 aremade of rubber or other similar flexible material and is formed in bluntshapes and rounded ends so as not to cut or damage the fibrousmaterials. .fingers or bars 50 are conveniently spaced from each otherso as to permit trash to passbetween them against Furthermore, thedeflector the'interior wall of the chamber 12 while the rotating fibrousmaterial is deflected away from the chamber wall it by the deflectorbars 30. i

A series of trash outlet slots 16 of varying sizes and air pressure inthe container 12.

The rotor 14 preferably includes a tubular body suitably supported inthe material container 12 for rotatable moveeach other.

i internal passageway 21) and the slots 13. The desired amount of airfor effective fractionation of the fibrous material may be controlled byvarying one or more of} the variables: the size of the slots 18, therotor speed, the inlet opening 28 or the area of rotor blades. Thevolume and velocity of air created by the rotor determines the area ofthe trash outlet slots. If-the air velocity at the point of the trashoutlets 16 is too high, good fibers are carried out with the trash andif the air velocity is insufficient,

effective cleaning and fractionation of the material is notaccomplished.

A desirable means for rotating the rotor 14 may be provided such asmotor 32 which may be directly connected to the rotor 14- by means of ashaft 34. A rotor sleeve 36 may be provided with air intake openings 38which are in communication with rotor passageway 20. Thus, when themotor 32 rotates the rotor 14, the fan blades 22 create a fan action inthe container 12'thereby rotating and agitating the fibrous materialwhich has been placed in the container 12. The openings 23 and 38 allowair to flow through the rotating rotor passageway 29 and pass outthrough the slots or openings 18 and into the material chamber orcontainer 12. The air flow through the rotor is due to the fan actioncreated by the blades 22. And if desired a suitable base 37 may beprovided to suit ably support the apparatus 19 and the motor 32.

As previously stated it may be desirable to collect and weigh trash,short fibers and other foreign particles from the material beingfractionated thereby weighing and comparing these various components inrelation to the original sample. The monetary value of thefibrousmaterial canthen be determined because of the presence of thesecomponents. Thus, a series of removable trash trays 4t), 42 and 44 areprovided supported by the base 3'? beneath the trash outlets 16 andspaced vertically from The trash trays are sized with a coarse screentray it? on top, a medium mesh screen tray 42 below and a fine meshscreen trash tray 44 on the-bottom. The trash trays are slidablyremovable from the support 37 and an air escape 46 and feet 39 areprovided in the base' parat-us of the presentinvention is also adaptedto provide a continuous flow process of cleaning fibrous samples by theaddition of suitable flow inlets and outlets and means for propellingthe material through the container 12. As

shown in FIGURES-4-9, the rotor 14 is suitably supported by bearings 48and 59 (FIGURE 7) on either end and extends outwardly from each end ofthe container 12. A

belt and pulley arrangement 52 and 54 is suitably connected to a motor56 for rotating the rotor 14. Of course,

a similar support and rotating means could be provided for the batchtype fractionator of FIGURES l-3.

ment such as by bearings 15 at one end; the other end being supported bythe motor shaft 34. Of course, other desired means for providing arotatable support may be *use'd. The fan blades 22- are connected to therotor 14 -and are circumferentially spaced about the rotor.

Preferably, the'fan blades 22 are-axially extending although, of

- course, they could be at an angle or even be spirally shaped centfanblades 22 in order to provide air for agitating and rotating thefibrous material when the fan blades are :rotated and cause a suctionfrom the atmosphere through Thus, with the rotor 14 journaled for rotarymovement in the container 12 the interior passageway 20- of the rotor 14is provided with a material inlet or open- (FIGURE 7) is provided in thesecond end of the enclosed chamber or container 12 to allow the exit'ofthe fibrous material after it' has been cleaned.

As best seen in FIGURES 4-7 a supply of material (not shown) is suitablyconnected to the rotor material inlet 58 and the action of the rotoritself causes the move ment of the fibrous material through thecontainer 12.

In order to provide this self-feeding operation a partition 63 isprovided inrthe'passageway 20 of the rotor 14 to separate the materialinlet'58 from the air inlet '69. Ma- 'terial openings '64, of enlargedarea are provided in the rotor 14 on the side of the-partition 63towards the material inlet 58. Fan blade extensions 66 are providedadjacent the material openings 64 and are of greater width than the fanblades thereby creating a greater suction as the rotor 14 is rotated inorder to provide sufiicient suction to draw the fibrous material throughthe opening 58, the material openings 64 and into the container 12 andto provide greater pressure for driving the material to outlet 62. Endplate 68 is provided to insure deflection of the material into thechamber 12 as it enters the openings 64 and to prevent material frombeing caught and wedged, and thus binding between the end 71 and therotating blade extensions 66. Thus, as the rotor 14 is rotated the fanblade extensions 66 induce a higher suction than the fan blades causingthe fibrous material to enter the feed inlet 58 from a material source(not shown) and flow continuously into the container 12 and by virtue ofthe higher air velocity created by the blade extensions 66 at the firstend of the container 12. The fibrous material moves in a spiral pathalong the container 12 where it is cleaned and the cleaned fibrousmaterial passes out the material outlet 62.

Preferably, the rotor 14 of the continuous flow fractionator apparatusof FIGURES 47 is provided with tapered fan blades 70 which are wider atthe material inlet end than at the air inlet end of the container and isprovided with rows of slots 72 which also taper downwardly so that theslots 72 are wider toward the material inlet end of the container thanat the air inlet end. This feature insures that the air as it entersinlet 69 and goes through the passageway 20 of the rotor will tend tohave a higher velocity and volume adjacent the material inlet end of thechamber 12 than at the air inlet end thereby aiding in the passing ofthe material along the container 12 from the inlet to the outlet 62.Furthermore, there will be an even velocity of pressure the full lengthof the rotor 14.

Of course, the fan blades 70 and the slots 72 need not be tapered as thepressure created by the blade extensions 66 can be made to be suflicientto cause the fibrous material to pass longitudinally along the container 12. However, the tapering feature insures a more uniform gradientof pressure differential along the container. Furthermore, eachrow ofslots 72 may be made a single elongated slot as in FIGURES 1-3.

As in the fractionating apparatus of FIGURES 1-3,

a plurality of rows of suitable deflector bars 74, preferably fiexible,is provided secured to the container 12 and suitable trash outlets, hereshown in the form of slots 76, are provided in the wall of the container12.

Referring now to FIGURES 8 and 9, a material inlet feed 76 is providedin place of the self-feeding arrangement of the material opening 64 andfan extension 66. The inlet feed 76 is shown positioned in the side wallof the container 12, however, it may if desired be placed in the endwall. Thus, in the continuous flow process of cleaning fibrous materialsusing the apparatus shown in FIGURES 8 and 9 a suitable supply ofmaterial is supplied under pneumatic pressure (not shown) to thematerial inlet 76 into the container 12 whereby the pressure the airwill enter both ends of the rotor 14 into the passageway 20.

The foregoing apparatus for fractionatingfibrous material, while shownas being used and operated in a horizontal position, can be operated ina vertical or any position and while useful in cleaning or fractionatingcotton such as in laboratories or cotton gins, will work equally well inother environments, for instance, such as in cotton strippers and cottonpickers. Furthermore, the

present invention is useful in fractionating other fibrous materials.

Referring now to FIGURES l-3, the operation of the present invention isbest seen in its use as a fractionating and cleaning apparatus wherein asample of fibrous material such as lint cotton containing trash andshort fibers is weighed and inserted in the container 12. The removableend plate 24 is locked into position and motor 32 is actuated to rotatethe rotor 14. As the rotor rotates the fan blades 22 create a movablejet of air acting in a radial direction thus passing through the cottonsample causing it to move around the wall of the container 12. The fanblades 22 create the air flow action by drawing air through the rotorpassageway 20 from inlet 28 at one end of the rotor and inlets 38 at theother end of the rotor where the air passes out through the air outletslots 18 into the container 12. Thus, no external source of air power isrequired as the rotating rotor creates by its own suction a highvelocity air current.

Thus as the mass of fibrous materials is rotated about the interior ofthe container 12 it strikes the deflector fingers or bars 30 which tendto retard temporarily the fibrous mass giving an impact which furtherfrees the trash and exposes additional fiber surfaces to the cleaningand fractionating action of the high velocity air currents. The trash,short fibers, and other foreign particles since they are of a differentweight than the normal clean fibers are acted upon by a combination ofcentrifugal force, change of velocity by the jetting air and the impactcaused by hitting the deflector fingers 3t} and are caused to separatefrom the fiber mass. Since the defiector fingers or bars 30 are spacedto permit trash to pass between them against the wall of the container12 while the fibrous mass is deflected away from the container wall, thetrash, short fibers, and other foreign particles pass around the walland are blown out the trash outlets 16 where they are ejected onto thetrays 40, 42 and 44, depending upon the size of the ejected material.The air passing out the outlet 16 and the trash trays passes out theopening 46 in the support 37.

Thus by rotating the rotor for a fixed period of time, a period found inthe case of cotton samples to be approximately thirty seconds, thetrash, short fibers, and other foreign particles are separated from thecotton sample and deposited upon the screens 40, 42 and 44. Afterstopping the motor 32, the original sample is removed from the sampleChamber or container 12. And since the monetary value of a cotton sampleis influenced by the presence of an excess of short fibers and trash theclean sample may be weighed and the loss in weight from the originalweight is an indication of the amount of trash, short fibers and otherforeign particles which have been removed. The trash on the individualtrays 40, 42 and 44 may be weighed separately to give an indication asto the amount and type of trash on each tray. By refractionating thetrash samples in a similar refractionating apparatus It} (usually anapparatus with smaller trash outlet holes 16), the short fibers can beeffectively separated from the trash and other foreign particles. Byweighing and comparing these short fibers to the original sample weightloss, both weight and percentage of short fibers may be calculated.Similarly, trash and other foreign material may be weighed andcalculated to show either weight or percent trash in the originalsample.

In order to provide a continuous process of fractionating or cleaning afibrous material such as seed cotton, for example in a cotton gin orpicker, the apparatus of FIG- URES 47 may be used which is similar tothe device of FIGURES l-3 but includes a material feed inlet and outletand means for continuously feeding the material through the container12. The material inlet 58 is connected to a supply of material (notshown) to be fractionated or cleaned and the motor 56 (FIGURE 4) isenergized rotating the rotor 14 through the belt and pulley arrangement52 and 54. As the rotor 14 rotates material will pass out the materialoutlet 62.

the blade extensions 66 also rotate creating a suction through materialinlet openings 64 and through the material inlet 58-thereby drawingfibrous material through these opening into the'container 12. At thesame time the actions of the fan blades 70 create a radial jet action ofair acting in a radial direction caused by the suction of airthrough'the air inlet 6% and through the air outlet slots 72, thusacting on-the fibrous samples entering into the chamber 12. to cause thefibrous materials to be acted upon similarly to the action of the batchfractionator of FIGURES l-3 to clean the material. Since the bladeextensions 66 are wider than the rest of the fan blades 7d a amount ofair entering the slots 72. into the container 12,.

Thus, the material entering the container 12 through the 'slots 64willbe forced by the pressure diiference along the container 12 in a spiralaction during which time the fibrous material will be cleaned. When thematerial reaches the outlet end of the container 12 the cleanedAdditionally, if the air outlet openings or slots '72 and the fan.blades '70 are tapered in width from a maximum width -at the inlet endof the container 12 to a minimum width at the outlet end of thecontainer 12. the pressure of air near the material inlet end of thecontainer 12 will be increased thereby aiding in causing the sample tomove longitudinally along the container 12.

Thus the fractionating apparatus of FIGURES 1-7 has a single movingpart, the rotor 14, which creates its own 'air currents and is capableof creating a sufiicient suction to provide a continuous flow ofmaterial through the apparatus without requiring additional and externalfeeding equipment and thus provides an aparatus for continuousprocessing.

However, if desired, as shown in FIGURES 8 and 9, a feed inlet 76 can beprovided into the container 12, here shown in a side wall although theopening could be placed in the end wall. The feed opening76 will thenbe'fed from-a material supply (not shown) under air pressure and therotor 14, the blades 78 and the slots 7? would as previously describedcause the material to move along the container 12 and be cleaned in asimilar manner to the action previously described. 1

Thus, the present invention provides a fractionating apparatus forfractionating a sample of fibrous materials, such as lint or seedcotton, for the purpose of separating trash, and in the case of lintcotton separating short fibers from the sample by the application ofhigh velocityair currents. The fractionating apparatus includes a singlemoving part, the rotor 14 which creates the high velocity air currentsfor cleaning and moving the material through the container and at thesame time provides sufiicient 'suction to provide a suction feed for theapparatus and thus considerably reduces the amount of power required toclean a given amount of fibrous material.

The present invention, therefore, is well adapted to carry out theobjects and attain the ends and advantages mentioned as well as othersinherent therein. While presently preferred embodiments of the inventionhave been given for the purpose ,of disclosure, numerous changes in thedetail of construction and arrangement of parts may be made which willreadily suggest themselves secured to the exterior of said body, saidblades being substantially perpendicular to the surface of said body,said body having a plurality of openings in communication with saidinterior passageway whereby as the body is rotated air is sucked throughsaid passageway and out of said openings by the rotating action of theblades thereby agitating and cleaning any material in'said container,and trash disposal openings in said container permitting the passage oftrash and debris separated from said'fibrous material.

2. The invention of claim 1 whereinthe container includes a materialopening adjacent one end of said container and body, and an outletadjacent the second end of said container and body, said blades taperingdownwardly in width from said one end to the second end of said body,and said body openings tapering inwardly from said one end to the secondend of said body.

3. The invention of claim 1 wherein the container includes a materialexit adjacent one end of said container, a partition having first andsecond sides positioned in said body passageway, said body having aplurality of enlarged openings on the first side of said partition, saidblades being of enlarged width on said first side of said partitionadjacent said enlarged openings and a material inlet connected to saidpassageway on said first side of said partition.

4. An apparatus for fractionating fibrous materials comprising, acontainer for receiving said material, a retatable body mounted insideof said container, means for rotating said body, said body having anaxial extending passageway through said body, said passageway being influid communication with the atmosphere, a plurality ofcircumferentially-spaced and substantially axially extending fan bladesdisposed on said body, said body having a plurality of axially extendingopenings, said openings 'being in communication with said passagewaywhereby as the body is rotated. a suction is created by the fan .bladesdrawing air through the passageway and out the openings, and a pluralityof rows of deflector bars disposed on the interior of thecontainer fordeflecting and loosening the debris from thematerial as it rotates aboutthe container, and a plurality of trash outlets in the container.

5. The invention of claim 4 including a plurality of mesh screen traysin spaced vertical relationship positioned below said trash outlets.

6. An apparatus for fractionating fibrous materials comprising, asubstantially cylindrical container for re- .materialas it is rotatedabout the container, and a plurality of trash outlets in the wall of thecontainer.

7. An apparatus for fractionating fibrous materials comprising asubstantially cylindrical container for receiving said material, atubular rotor mounted forrotation in said container, said rotor havingan axial passageway,

said passageway being in fluid communication with the atmosphere, aplurality of circumferentially spaced and axially extending fan bladesattached to said rotor and radially extending therefrom, said rotorhaving a plurality of axially extending and circumferentially spacedopenings, said openings being in communication with the passageway, aplurality of rows of flexible deflector bars axially disposed on theinterior of the container fordeflecting and loosening the fibrousmaterial as it rotates about the containen'means for rotating saidtubular rotor,

and a plurality of trash outlets in the container.

8. The invention of claim 7 including an enclosure having an opening andan exit, said opening being adjacent said trash outlets, and a pluralityof mesh screen trays in spaced vertical relationship positioned in saidenclosure.

9. A11 apparatus for fractionating fibrous materials comprising, asubstantially cylindrical container having first and second ends forreceiving said material, a tubular rotor mounted for rotation in saidcontainer, said rotor having first and second ends and having an axialpassageway communicating with the atmosphere, a plurality of radiallyextending fan blades axially attached to the exterior of the rotor, saidrotor having axially extending slots in the exterior of the rotor, saidslots being in communication with said axial passageway whereby when therotor is rotated air is sucked through said passageway and slots by thefan action of the blades and into the container, a plurality of rows ofdeflecting bars disposed on the interior of the container for deflectingand cleaning the fibrous material as it rotates about the container, aplurality of trash outlets in the container, a material opening adjacentthe first end of said container, and a material outlet adjacent thesecond end of said container, and means for rotating said rotor.

10. The invention of claim 8 wherein the fan blades are tapereddownwardly in width from said first end of said rotor, and said slotsare tapered inwardly from said first end of said rotor.

11. An apparatus for fractionating fibrous materials comprising, asubstantially cylindrical container for receiving said material andhaving first and second ends, a tubular rotor coaxially mounted forrotation in said container and having first and second ends, said rotorhaving an axial passageway communicating with the atmosphere at thesecond end, a plurality of outwardly and axially extending first fanblades circumferentially spaced on said rotor, said rotor having aplurality of rows of axially extending slots, said slots being in fluidcommunication with the axial passageway whereby when the rotor isrotated air is sucked through said passageway and slots by the action ofthe fan blades into the container thereby agitating and cleaning saidmaterial in said container, a plurality of rows of deflecting barsdisposed on the interior of the container for deflecting and cleaningthe fibrous material as it rotates about the container, a plurality oftrash outlets in the container, a material outlet in said containeradjacent said second end, a partition in said rotor passageway betweensaid first and second ends, at least one material opening in said rotor,said opening being on the side of the partition adjacent said first endof the rotor, and at least one enlarged fan blade adjacent said materialopening, said enlarged fan blade being outwardly and axially extendingand connected to said rotor.

12. The invention of claim 9 wherein the first fan blades are tapereddownwardly in width from said first 10 end of said rotor, and said slotsare tapered inwardly from said first end of said rotor.

13. An apparatus for fractionating fibrous materials comprising, asubstantially cylindrical container for receiving said material andhaving first and second ends, a tubular rotor coaxially mounted forrotation in said container and having first and second ends, said rotorhaving an axial passageway, said passageway communicating with theatmosphere at said second end and said first end arranged for connectionto a material supply, a partition in said passageway between said endshaving first and second sides, a plurality of outwardly and axiallyextending first fan blades circumferentially spaced on said rotor on thesecond side of said partition, said rotor having a plurality of rows ofaxially extending first slots on the second side of said partition, saidslots being in communication with the axial passageway whereby when therotor is rotated air is sucked through said passageway and slots by theaction of the fan blades into the container thereby agitating andcleaning said material in said container, a plurality of rows ofdeflecting bars disposed on the interior of the container for deflectingand cleaning the fibrous material as it rotates about the container, aplurality of trash outlets in the container, a material outlet in saidcontainer adjacent said second end, a plurality of material inletopenings in said rotor on said first side of the partition, a pluralityof second fan blades axially extending and circumferentially spacedabout the rotor adjacent said material openings.

14. An apparatus for fractionating fibrous materials comprising, acontainer for receiving said material, a rotatable body mounted insideof said container, said body having an axially extending passagewaythrough said body, said passageway being in fluid communication with theatmosphere, means removed from said passageway for feeding fibrousmaterial into said container, a plurality of circumferentially spacedfan blades disposed on said body, said blades being substantiallyperpendicular to the surface of said body, said body having a pluralityof circumferentially spaced openings, said openings being incommunication with said passageway, each of said openings beingpositioned behind one of said blades when said body is rotated whereby asuction is created by the fan blades as the body is rotated therebydrawing air through the passageway and out of the openings, and trashdisposable openings in said container sized to permit the passage oftrash and debris separated from the fibrous material but preventing thepassage of said material.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS373,075 Kitson Nov. 15, 1887 2,002,974 Bennett et a1 May 28, 19352,489,079 Clark Nov. 22, 1949 2,910,731 Moore et a1. Nov. 3, 1959

1. AN APPARATUS FOR FRACTIONATING FIBROUS MATERIALS COMPRISING ACONTAINER FOR RECEIVING SAID MATERIAL, A ROTATABLE BODY POSITIONEDINTERIORLY OF SAID CONTAINER AND MOUNTED FOR ROTATION IN SAID CONTAINER,SAID CONTAINER HAVING A CLOSABLE MATERIAL OPENING FOR FEEDING MATERIALINTO THE CONTAINER, SAID BODY HAVING AN INTERIOR PASSAGEWAY, SAIDPASSAGEWAY BEING IN FLUID COMMUNICATION WITH THE ATMOSPHERE, A PLURALITYOF OUTWARDLY EXTENDING BLADES SECURED TO THE EXTERIOR OF SAID BODY, SAIDBLADES BEING SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE SURFACE OF SAID BODY,SAID BODY HAVING A PLURALITY OF OPENINGS IN COMMUNICATION WITH SAIDINTERIOR PASSAGEWAY WHEREBY AS THE BODY IS RO-